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THE 


INCOMPREHENSIBILITY 


GOD'S  NATURE  AND  WAYS 


BY    REV.    WM.  S /PLUME  R,    D.    D 


[FIRST  PUBLISHED  L\  THE  AMERICAN  NATIONAL  PREACHER.] 


"  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God  ?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto 
perfection  ?  It  is  high  as  heaven,  what  canst  thou  do  ?  Deeper  than  hell,  what  canst 
thou  know  ?  The  measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth,  and  broader  than  the 
sea."— Job  xi.  1— 9. 

The  nature  of  God  is  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion,  and 
the  will  of  God  is  the  rule  of  all  acceptable  worship.  There- 
fore the  knowledge  of  God  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  With- 
out it  the  people  perish.  Total  ignorance  here  is  total  ruin. 
But  to  know  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  he  has  sent,  is  eternal 
life.  To  see  and  acknowledge  God  in  all  our  ways  is  an  essen- 
tial part  of  genuine  piety.  To  fail  in  so  doing  is  no  small  part 
of  human  wickedness.  Our  thoughts  cannot  be  too  much  turned 
to  Him,  who  is  in  all,  and  through  all,  and  above  all,  and  over 
all,  God  blessed  for  ever. 

Nor  is  the  mysteriousness  of  the  divine  nature  and  govern- 
ment any  reason  why  we  should  not  seek  to  know  what  may 
be  known  concerning  them.  To  the  carnal  and  unbelieving 
the  darkness  around  the  nature  and  ways  of  God  is  an  occasion 
of  stumbling  ;  but  to  those  who  are  taught  from  above  it  brings 
pious  confidence,  deep  humility,  and  adoring  reverence.  Give 
one  the  spirit  of  adoption  and  self-renunciation,  and  he  cannot 
be  frightened  from  the  presence  of  his  Maker  either  by  the  lustre 
or  the  darkness  round  about  his  throne.  Sages  have  explored 
23 


2  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD's   NATURE    AND    WATS. 

this  subject  till  wisdom  fell  asleep  over  her  lesson  and  pride 
rose  up  and  uttered  great  swelling  words  of  vanity  and  blas- 
phemy ;  but  the  humble  child  of  God,  thirsting  for  divine 
knowledge  and  sitting  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  has  learned  more 
than  the  ancients,  and  has  become  wise  unto  salvation. 

The  doctrine  of  the  text  and  of  this  discourse  is  that  there  is 

IN  THE  NATURE  AND    WAYS  OF    GoD    MUCH    THAT    IS  INCOMPREHENSIBLE 

to  us.     In  dwelling  on  this  truth  it  may  be  stated  : 

I.  That  it  is  agreed  on  all  hands  that  the  adorable  first  person 
of  the  Trinity,  the  Father,  is,  and  must  ever  be,  beyond  the 
grasp  of  our  senses  and  faculties.  He  is  the  King  eternal, 
immortal,  and  invisible.  No  man  hath  seen  Grod  at  any  time. 
No  man  can  see  his  face  and  live.  He  maketh  darkness  his 
pavilions  round  about  him,  dark  waters,  and  thick  clouds  of  the 
skies. 

It  is  no  less  generally  agreed  that  the  third  person  of  the 
Trinity,  the  Holy  Ghost,  is,  and  ever  will  be,  beyond  the  direct 
and  immediate  notice  of  all  creatures.  "  The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst 
not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth :  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit."  He  broods  over  the  face  of 
nature  ;  garnishes  the  heavens ;  converts  the  soul ;  opens  our 
eyes  that  we  may  behold  wondrous  things  out  of  God's  word ; 
sanctifies  our  affections ;  fills  the  saints  with  joy ;  fits  God's 
people  for  glory  ;  divides  his  gifts  severally  as  He  will,  and 
yet  "  we  know  not  the  way  of  the  Spirit."  We  never  saw  him, 
and  we  never  shall  see  him  as  disembodied  spirits  see  each 
other.  We  may  know  him  by  his  word  and  works,  by  his 
enlightening,  sanctifying,  and  comforting  influences,  but  never 
by  sight.  He  is  far  beyond  the  grasp  of  both  our  bodily  and 
mental  faculties. 

The  brightest  manifestation  of  the  Godhead  ever  yet  made,  or 
ever  to  be  made,  is  in  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  the 
second  person  in  the  Trinity.  We  may  behold  his  glory,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth  ;  but  we  can  go  no  further.  This  manifestation  is  for  all 
practical  purposes  sufficient.  It  is  clear  and  glorious,  yet  not 
intolerable  by  reason  of  excessive  brightness.  Christ  said,  "  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father."  He  thus  taught  us 
that  the  best  possible  discovery  we  could  make  of  the  Godhead 
was  through  the  veil  of  his  own  flesh.  But  even  in  Christ 
divinity  shone  forth  under  great  obscuration.  The  transfigura- 
tion, the  ascension  in  a  bright  cloud,  the  appearance  to  Saul  of 
Tarsus  after  his  ascension,  and  the  glory  in  which  John,  the 
divine,  saw  him,  may  give  us  some  faint  conception  of  the  efful- 
gence of  his  everlasting  person.  But  we  know  him  chiefly  by 
his  works,  and  teachings,  and  sufferings.  Thousands  saw  him 
with  their  bodily  eyes,  and  knew  no  more  of  God  than  before. 
So  that  we  may  safely  say  that  God  is,  and  for  ever  shall  be, 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND    WAYS.  3 

wholly  unperceivable  by  any  of  our  senses  or  faculties.  If  any 
object  that  it  is  promised  that  the  pure  in  heart  "shall  see  God," 
the  answer  is  that  all  God's  word  shall  be  fulfilled  ;  but  the 
meaning-  of  that  language  evidently  is,  not  that  they  shall  meet 
God  face  to  lace  and  behold  his  unveiled  divinity,  but  that  they 
shall  enjoy  God  as  revealed  in  his  word,  and  works,  and  ordi- 
nances, in  the  person  of  his  Son,  and  by  the  influences  of  his 
Spirit.  Now  whatever  eludes  all  our  senses  and  faculties  is  to  us 
necessarily  clad  with  mysteriousness.  Whatever  is  concealed 
from  every  perceptive  power  excludes  the  possibility  of  original 
knowledge.  In  such  a  case,  learning  without  instruction  is 
impossible.  The  difficulty  is  heightened  by  every  step  we  take 
towards  that  which  is  in  its  nature  boundless.  But  when  our 
thoughts  go  out  after  Him,  who  is  absolutely  infinite,  we  are 
soon  enveloped  in  a  profound  obscurity,  which  no  created  facul- 
ties can  penetrate, 

II.  The  incomprehensibility  of  God's  nature  and  ways  is  often 
asserted  in.-  his  word.  To  cite  all  the  texts  pertinent  to  the 
proof  would  be  tedious.  Take  a  short  selection  of  them.  The 
book  of  Job  is  probably  the  oldest  inspired  record.  In  it  we 
find  these  words:  "Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out  God? 
Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto  perfection?  It  is  high 
as  heaven,  what  canst  thou  do  ?  deeper  than  hell,  what  canst 
thou  know  ?  The  measure  thereof  is  longer  than  the  earth, 
and  broader  than  the  sea :"  "  God  doeth  great  things  and  un- 
searchable, marvellous  things  without  number :"  "  He  is  wise 
in  heart  and  mighty  in  strength.  *  *  He  doeth  great  things  past 
finding  out,  yea,  and  wonders  without  number."  "  Lo  these  are 
parts  of  his  ways,  but  how  little  a  portion  is  heard  of  him :" 
"  God  is  greater  than  man.  Why  dost  thou  strive  with  him  ? 
for  he  giveth  not  account  of  any  of  his  matters  :"  "  We  cannot 
order  our  speech  by  reason  of  darkness.  *  *  With  God  is 
terrible  majesty.  Touching  the  Almighty  we  cannot  find  him 
out :  he  is  excellent  in  power,  and  in  judgment,  and  in  plenty 
of  justice.  *  *  He  respecteth  not  any  that  are  wise  in 
heart."  "Behold  God  is  great,  and  we  know  him  not :"  "God 
thundereth  marvellously  with  his  voice :  great  things  doeth  he, 
which  we  cannot  comprehend."  The  same  doctrine  is  taught 
by  Moses  in  the  Pentateuch,  "  Secret  things  belong  unto  the 
Lord  our  God  :"  by  David,  "  Thy  judgments  are  a  great  deep :" 
"  Great  is  the  Lord,  and  greatly  to  be  praised  ;  his  greatness  is 
unsearchable  :"  by  Asaph,  "  Thy  way  is  in  the  sea,  and  thy 
path  in  the  great  waters,  and  thy  footsteps  are  not  known  :"  by 
a  later  Psalmist,  "  Great  is  our  Lord,  and  of  great  power :  his 
understanding  is  infinite  :"  by  Solomon,  "No  man  can  find  out 
the  work  that  God  doeth  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  :" 
"  Thou  knowest  not  the  works  of  God  who  maketh  all :"  "  The 
heaven  of  heavens  cannot  contain  thee :"  "  It  is  the  glory  of 
God  to  conceal  a  thing:"  by  Isaiah,  "Verily  thou  art  a  God  that 


4  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

hidest  thyself,  O  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour :"  "  There  is  no 
searching  of  his  understanding :"  by  Jeremiah,  "  Who  hath 
stood  in  the  counsel  of  the  Lord,  and  hath  perceived  and  heard 
his  word  ?"  by  Jesus  Christ,  "  No  man  knoweth  the  Son,  but 
the  Father;  neither  knoweth  any  man  the  Father,  save  the 
Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  him  ;"  "  0 
righteous  Father,  the  world  hath  not  known  thee :  but  I  have 
known  thee,  and  these  have  known  that  thou  hast  sent  me  :" 
by  Paul,  "  The  Spirit  searcheth  all  things,  yea,  the  deep  things 
of  God.  For  what  man  knoweth  the  things  of  a  man  save  the 
spirit  of  man  which  is  in  him  ?  even  so  the  things  of  God 
knoweth  no  man,  but  the  Spirit  of  God:"  "Who  hath  known 
the  mind  of  the  Lord,  or  who  hath  been  his  counsellor?"  and 
by  John,  "  Great  and  marvellous  are  thy  works,  Lord  God 
Almighty ;  just  and  true  are  thy  ways,  thou  King  of  saints." 

Here  are  the  words  of  Moses,  who  wrote  the  oldest  books  of 
inspiration,  and  of  other  men,  who  spake  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  down  to  the  last  surviving  apostle,  whose 
writings  closed  the  canon  of  Scripture.  The  doctnne  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  of  the  prophets,  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
of  his  apostles  on  this  subject,  is  precisely  the  same.  The 
corning  of  Christ  did  not  remove  the  mysteriousness  of  Jehovah's 
nature  and  ways,  but  rather  established  it.  By  opening  to  our 
vision  amazing  fields  of  thought  respecting  God's  love  in  Christ, 
it  gave  us  new  and  everlasting  themes  of  adoring  wonder. 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh  was,  and  is,  and  ever  shall  be,  itself 
the  sublimest  of  all  mysteries.  "Nothing  but  itself  is  its  pa- 
rallel." And  no  where  is  the  incomprehensibility  of  God  spoken 
of  in  Scripture  as  cause  of  sorrow  to  the  pious.  On  the  con- 
trary, inspired  men  exult  in  it  and  give  thanks.  Nor  can  the 
doctrine  be  either  alarming  or  distressing  to  one,  whose  hope 
is  set  on  high,  and  whose  mind  has  learned  to  bow  in  true 
humility  before  the  majesty  of  God.  It  is  also  clear  from  one 
of  the  texts  quoted  from  Paul,  that  our  inability  to  find  out  the 
Almighty  to  perfection  is  not  merely  moral,  but  natural.  The 
same  would  have  been  true  if  man  had  never  sinned  at  ail. 
The  same  shall  still  be  true  when  the  heavens  shall  be  no  more. 
The  passage  quoted  from  John  is  part  of  a  song  sung  in  heaven. 
This  proves  that  even  heavenly  bliss  does  not  require  in  order 
to  its  perfection  the  understanding  of  all  God's  nature  and  ways. 
A  part  of  celestial  happiness  consists  in  worshipping  Him, 
whose  counsels  are  of  old,  faithfulness  and  truth,  and  who 
maketh  darkness  his  secret  place. 

III.  So  very  wonderful  are  the  perfections  of  God,  compared 
with  the  attributes  of  the  most  exalted  creature,  that  his  nature 
and  ways  must  always  be  mysterious  just  in  proportion  to  our 
knowledge  of  their  extent.  God  is  infinite,  eternal,  and  un- 
changeable in  his  being,  wisdom,  power,  holiness,  justice,  good- 
ness, and  truth.     All  men  and  angels  are  finite,  the  creatures  of 


/     t 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OP    GOD7S   NATURE    AND    WAYS.  O 

yesterday,  liable  to  change,  and  of  themselves — without  God 
— have  neither  wisdom  nor  virtue.  Man  is  the  very  lowest 
order  of  rational  beings,  and  has  by  sin  greatly  debased  himself. 
He  is  blinded  by  many  passions  and  prejudices.  *  Every  man 
is  brutish  in  his  knowledge."  How  then  should  man,  as  com- 
pared with  God,  have  knowledge  either  extensive  or  accurate  ? 
This  is  no  surprising  thing.  Our  elder  and  nobler  brethren,  the 
elect  angels,  who  have,  ever  since  they  were  created,  stood 
around  the  throne  of  the  Eternal,  and  drunk  of  the  river  of 
truth  as  it  flows  forth  fresh  from  its  fountain,  are  yet,  as  com- 
pared with  God,  foolish  and  ignorant.  "He  chargeth  his  angels 
with  folly."  "  Though  glorious  and  holy  creatures,  they  are 
fallible  and  mutable,  except  as  upheld  and  confirmed  by  the 
Lord.  They  execute  his  wise  and  righteous  counsels ;  but 
would  soon  show  their  want  of  wisdom,  if  trusted  to  manage 
any  part  of  the  government  of  the  world,  according  to  their 
own  mind.  Nay,  compared  with  the  infinite  knowledge  and 
wisdom  of  God,  they  are  chargeable  with  ignorance,  being 
utterly  unable  to  comprehend  the  vast  designs  of  the  great 
Creator  and  Lord  of  the  universe  ;  except  as  'he  pleases  to 
unfold  them.  How  much  less  then  may  man  be  trusted  !"  God's 
plans  embrace  all  creatures  and  all  worlds.  They  comprehend 
the  whole  universe.  The  greatest  stretch  of  the  human  mind 
never  extended  to  all  the  affairs  of  an  empire,  a  province,  a 
city,  a  family,  or  even  of  a  person.  God's  plans  are  founded  on 
the  most  perfect  knowledge  of  all  things.  Man's  information  is 
very  imperfect  both  in  scope  and  in  degree.  It  would  be  mar- 
vellous if  a  little  child  should  understand  all  the  measures  of  a 
wise  ruler.  Yet  that  would  be  but  one  finite  being  compre- 
hending the  measures  of  another.  But  for  a  creature  to  know 
God's  plans  would  be  for  finite  to  grasp  infinite.  Until  man 
can  hold  the  sea  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  measure  the  azure 
vault  of  heaven  with  a  carpenter's  rule,  sweep  the  outskirts  of 
creation  with  a  compass  of  his  own  construction,  and  tell  all 
worlds,  and  give  their  number,  weight,  and  measure,  let  not  his 
arrogance  swell  to  the  monstrous  bloating  of  imagining  that  he 
can  comprehend  God.  Jf  he  does  not  know  all  things  formed, 
how  can  he  search  out  him  that  formed  them? 

Man  may  follow  Methuselah  through  his  long  career,  but  at 
last  he  dies.  Man  may  compute  the  number  of  seconds  in  a 
myriad  of  millions  of  centuries,  but  that  is  not  eternity.  God's 
life-time  has  neither  beginning  nor  end.  "  The  number  of  his 
years  cannot  be  searched  out."  "Before  the  mountains  were 
brought  forth,  or  ever  thou  hadst  formed  the  earth  and  the 
world,  even  from  everlasting  to  everlasting  thou  art  God." 
"  Thy  years  are  throughout  all  generations.  Of  old  hast  thou 
laid  the  foundation  of  the  earth  :  and  the  heavens  are  the  work 
of  thy  hands.  They  shall  perish,  but  thou  shalt  endure  :  yea, 
all  of  them  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment ;  as  a  vesture  shalt 
thou  change  them,  and  they  shall  be  changed  ;  but  thou  art  the 


6  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD's   NATURE    AND   WAYS. 

same,  and  thy  years  shall  have  no  end."  "One  day  is  with  the 
Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day." 
A  late  writer  says  :  "  While  the  spirituality  of  God's  nature 
places  Him  beyond  the  reach  of  our  direct  cognizance,  there 
are  certain  other  essential  properties  of  his  nature,  which  place 
Him  beyond  the  reach  of  our  possible  comprehension.  Let  me 
instance  the  past  eternity  of  the  Godhead.  One  might  figure  a 
futurity  that  never  ceases  to  flow,  and  which  has  no  termination, 
but  who  can  climb  his  ascending  way  among  the  obscurities  of 
that  infinite  which  is  behind  him  ?  Who  can  travel  in  thought 
along  the  track  of  generations  gone  by  till  he  has  overtaken  the 
Eternity,  which  lies  in  that  direction  ?  Who  can  look  across 
the  millions  of  ages  which  have  elapsed,  and  from  an  ulterior 
post  of  observation  look  again  to  another  and  another  succession 
of  centuries  ;  and  at  each  further  extremity  in  this  series  of 
retrospects,  stretch  backward  his  regards  on  an  antiquity  as 
remote  and  indefinite  as  ever  ?  Could  we  by  any  number  of 
successive  strides  over  these  mighty  intervals,  at  length  reach 
the  fountain-head  of  duration,  our  spirits  might  be  at  rest.  But 
to  think  of  duration  as  having  no  fountain-head ;  to  think  of 
time  with  no  beginning ;  to  uplift  the  imagination  along  the 
heights  of  an  antiquity,  which  hath  positively  no  summit ;  to 
soar  these  upward  steeps  till,  dizzied  by  the  altitude,  we  can 
keep  no  longer  on  the  wing ;  for  the  mind  to  make  these  re- 
peated flights  from  one  pinnacle  to  another ;  and,  instead  of 
scaling  the  mysterious  elevation,  to  lie  baffled  at  its  feet,  or  lose 
itself  among  the  far,  the  long  withdrawing  recesses  of  that 
primeval  distance,  which  at  length  merges  away  into  a  fathom- 
less unknown,  this  is  an  exercise  utterly  discomfiting  to  the 
puny  faculties  of  man.  We  are  called  on  to  stir  ourselves  up 
that  we  may  take  hold  of  God,  but  the  clouds  and  darkness, 
which  are  round  about  him,  seem  to  repel  the  enterprise  as 
hopeless,  and  man,  as  if  overborne  by  a  sense  of  littleness,  feels 
as  if  nothing  can  be  done  but  to  make  prostrate  obeisance  of 
all  his  faculties  before  him."  If  man  cannot  compute  the  life- 
time of  God,  how  can  he  comprehend  his  plans  ?  Tf  he  cannot 
take  the  dimensions  of  that  Eternity,  which  is  Jehovah's  habi- 
tation, how  can  he  search  out  Him  who  dwelleth  therein  ? 
"  An  eternity  past  puzzles  all  human  comprehension."  Yet  an 
eternity  to  come,  if  duly  considered,  no  less  completely  eludes 
our  grasp.  It  is  an  important  truth  that  "  though  we  cannot 
comprehend  eternity,  yet  we  can  comprehend  that  there  is  an 
eternity."     At  this  plain  truth  we  must  stop. 

Think,  too,  of  God's  omnipresence.  He  is  everywhere.  He 
fills  immensity.  He  is  a  spirit,  and  so  cannot  be  divided  ;  yet 
he  is  always  present  in  every  part  of  the  universe  with  the 
whole  of  his  being  and  nature.  He  is  an  infinite  spirit,  and  so 
no  limits  can  bound  him.  "  He  is  not  far  from  every  one  of  us  ; 
for  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being."  "  He  is 
a  very  present  help  in  time  of  trouble."     "  Am  I  a  God  at  hand, 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND    WAYS.  7 

saith  the  Lord,  and  not  a  God  afar  off  ?  *  *  Do  not  I  fill 
heaven  and  earth,  saith  the  Lord  ?"  "  Whither  shall  I  go  from 
thy  Spirit  ?  or  whither  shall  I  flee  from  thy  presence  ?  If  I 
ascend  up  into  heaven,  thou  art  there  :  if  I  make  my  bed  in 
hell,  behold,  thou  art  there.  If  I  take  the  wings  of  the  morning, 
and  dwell  in  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea ;  even  there  shall 
thy  hand  lead  me,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  hold  me."  The  sun 
is  distant  from  the  earth  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  ;  but  ninety- 
five  millions  of  times  ninety-five  millions  of  miles  beyond  the 
sun,  and  in  every  other  direction,  God  is  as  truly  present  as  in 
heaven  itself.  Light  travels  at  the  rate  of  more  than  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety-two  thousand  miles  every  second  ;  yet  there  are 
stars  so  distant  that  if  a  ray  of  light  had  left  them  on  the 
morning  that  the  Israelites  went  out  of  Egypt,  it  would  not  yet 
have  reached  our  world.  Over  the  vast  blazing  universe  above 
us  and  around  us  Jehovah  presides.  There  may  be  points, 
beyond  which  there  are  no  inhabited  worlds,  yet  who  dare 
assert  even  that  ?  But  space  has  no  limits.  Immensity  has  no 
walls,  outside  of  which  non-entity  has  her  kingdom.  "Who  is 
like  unto  the  Lord  our  God,  who  dwelleth  on  high,  who  hum- 
bleth  himself  to  behold  the  things  that  are  in  heaven  and  in  the 
earth  ?"  The  other  natural  perfections  of  God  are  no  less  ad- 
mirable and  incomprehensible  than  those  already  noticed. 

But  the  moral  character  of  God  presents,  if  possible,  still 
greater  wonders.  At  the  close  of  a  long  and  lucid  argument 
respecting  it,  even  blessed  Paul  could  do  no  more  than  say,  "  O 
the  depth  of  the  riches  both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of 
God  !  how  unsearchable  are  his  judgments,  and  his  ways  past 
finding  out."  Jesus  Christ,  when  on  earth,  was  actuated  by 
very  similar  sentiments.  "In  that  hour  Jesus  rejoiced  in  spirit, 
and  said,  I  thank  thee,  O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth, 
that  thou  hast  hid  these  things  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and 
hast  revealed  them  unto  babes:  even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemed 
good  in  thy  sight."  Now,  if  the  contemplation  of  God's  moral 
character  produced  such  exclamations  from  the  man  Christ 
Jesus,  and  from  his  servant  Paul,  it  must  be  a  theme  of  the 
most  exalted  nature.  It  is  while  speaking  of  his  own  moral 
character,  and,  especially  of  his  amazing  mercy,  that  God  says: 
*'  My  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts,  neither  are  your  ways  my 
ways,  saith  the  Lord.  For  as  the  heavens  are  higher  than  the 
earth,  so  are  my  ways  higher  than  your  ways,  and  my  thoughts 
than  your  thoughts."  The  same  remark  is  as  true  of  God's 
holiness,  justice,  goodness,  truth,  and  faithfulness.  Indeed,  all 
God's  moral  character  is  presented  to  our  admiration,  in  the 
person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  such  a  glorious  manner,  as 
to  have  filled  heaven  and  earth  with  joy  ever  since  the  plan  of 
redemption  was  known.  The  angels  have  long  desired  to  look 
into  these  things.  The  regenerate  on  earth  are  delighted  with 
them,  and  the  redeemed  in  glory  celebrate  them  for  ever 
and  ever.     God's  love  is  as  unfathomable  as  his  understanding. 


8  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

Nothing  is  more  unsearchable  than  the  riches  of  Christ.  None 
but  divinity  can  comprehend  them.  There  is  often  a  pleasing 
harmony  in  music.  There  is  always  an  admirable  harmony  in 
the  plans  and  works  of  God.  But  the  most  delightful  and  won- 
derful harmony  is  that  of  the  divine  attributes  in  man's  salva- 
tion. Inflexible  justice  and  incomparable  mercy,  terrible  severity 
and  infinite  goodness,  eternal  truth  and  everlasting  kindness, 
spotless  holiness  and  undying  faithfulness,  all  meet  around  the 
cross  of  Christ,  and  kiss  and  embrace  each  other.  No  such  glo- 
rious concord  is  seen  elsewhere  but  in  Jehovah  himself. 

IV.  God  has  shown  himself  to  be  incomprehensible  in  his 
works  of  creation.  He  doubtless  might  have  made  more  worlds 
and  more  orders  of  being  than  he  has  ;  yet  who  knows  all  the 
works  that  God  has  made  ?  There  are  known  to  be  more  than 
eight  thousand  species  of  the  beetle  alone.  The  tribes  of  crea- 
tures in  our  world,  which  are  invisible  to  the  naked  eye,  are 
said  to  be  far  more  numerous  than  all  those  which  we  can  see. 
If  the  tribes  are  more  numerous,  the  individuals  are  probably 
as  hundreds  of  millions  to  one.  There  are  supposed  to  be  per- 
ceptible by  powerful  glasses  as  many  as  three  or  four  hundred 
millions  of  fixed  stars.  If  each  of  these  is  a  sun  and  the  centre 
of  a  system  of  worlds  like  our  own,  how  vast  is  the  universe  ! 
It  consists  of  matter  organized  and  unorganized,  and  of  spirit 
mortal  and  immortal.  The  Bible  does  not  deny  that  brutes 
have  something  in  their  nature  which  may  be  called  spirit. 
But  then  it  teaches  that  the  spirit  of  a  beast  goeth  downward 
to  the  earth,  and  the  spirit  of  man  goeth  upward.  At  death  it 
returns  to  God,  who  gave  it.  All  these  organisms,  animate  and 
inanimate,  and  all  these  spirits,  mortal  and  immortal,  were 
called  out  of  non-entity  by  the  Almighty.  It  is  impossible  to 
conceive  of  any  exertion  of  power  greater  than  that,  by  which 
something  is  made  out  of  nothing.  Yet  out  of  nothing  God 
made  all  things,  our  bodies  and  our  souls,  all  we  are,  all  we  see, 
all  that  is  within  us,  above  us,  beneath  us,  around  us.  Nor  did 
any  part  of  the  work  of  creation  cost  him  any  labor.  "  He 
spake,  and  it  was  done  ;  he  commanded,  and  it  stood  fast."  He 
said,  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light."  "  He  stretcheth 
out  the  north  over  the  empty  place,  and  hangeth  the  earth  upon 
nothing."  "  He  bindeth  up  the  water  in  his  thick  clouds,  and 
the  cloud  is  not  rent  under  them."  "The  pillars  of  heaven 
tremble  and  are  astonished  at  his  reproof."  Nothing  is  too  hard 
for  him.     He  neither  groweth  faint  nor  is  weary. 

Indeed  so  inscrutable  is  God  in  all  his  ways  that  perhaps  no 
heathen  ever  spoke  so  wisely  concerning  the  divine  nature  as 
Simonides,  who  being  asked  by  Hiero,  "  What  is  God  ?"  de- 
manded one  day  for  deliberation.  When  again  asked  the  same 
question,  he  desired  two  days.  As  often  as  the  question  was  re- 
peated he  doubled  the  time.  When  asked  the  reason  of  his 
conduct,  he  replied,  "  The  longer  I  consider  the  question,  the 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS.  9 

greater  is  the  darkness  in  which  I  am  enveloped."  Most  of  our 
knowledge  of  God  is  negative.  Our  positive  knowledge  of  him 
is  very  limited.  Each  of  his  perfections  may  well  be  a  study 
for  life.  We  shall  never  rise  to  the  full  elevation  of  this  theme, 
neither  in  this  life  nor  in  that  which  is  to  come.  There  will 
ever  be  topless  heights  of  divine  knowledge,  to  which  we  will 
look  up  with  inquiring  awe. 

V.  In  God's  government  and  providence  are  several  things 
which  must  ever  make  them  incomprehensible  to  us.  How 
noiseless  are  most  of  his  doings.  When  in  spring  Jehovah  would 
reanimate  all  nature,  bring  into  activity  myriads  of  insects,  give 
growth  to  millions  of  seeds,  and  clothe  mountains  and  valleys 
in  living  green,  it  is  all  a  silent  work.  When  he  would  subvert 
a  universal  monarchy,  long  before  the  time  set  for  that  purpose, 
he  puts  it  into  the  heart  of  a  great  ruler  to  build  a  bridge,  and 
for  that  purpose  to  change  the  channel  of  a  river  for  a  season. 
This  is  all  done  without  signs  in  heaven,  or  war  in  the  elements. 
In  the  fulness  of  time  the  same  river  is,  by  means  the  simplest, 
diverted  from  its  channel,  Belshazzar  is  slain,  Babylon  is  a  prey 
to  the  invader,  and  a  universal  empire  is  dissolved.  Commonly 
when  God  depopulates  cities  and  kingdoms,  his  messengers  pass 
silently  along,  and  do  their  work  ere  men  are  aware.  There 
was  no  noise  of  preparation  for  the  destruction  of  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah.  The  morning*  of  their  eternal  overthrow  was 
as  calm  as  any  on  which  the  sun  had  risen  upon  them.  The 
destroying  angel,  who  slew  the  first-born  of  Egypt,  spread  his 
mighty  wings  over  the  land,  and  from  them  dropped  down  death 
on  every  habitation  of  man  and  beast.  Yet  all  was  quiet  as 
the  grave,  till  the  wail  of  bereavement  filled  the  land  with  ter- 
ror. God  makes  a  world  with  less  noise  than  that  produced  by 
man  when  he  makes  a  coffin.  When  Jehovah  spread  out  the 
heavens  and  set  up  their  unshaken  pillars,  there  was  not  so 
much  as  the  sound  of  a  hammer.  When  on  our  best  railroads 
we  travel  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour,  the  rumbling  noise 
is  heard  afar,  the  sight  of  our  speed  is  startling  to  every  specta- 
tor, and  we  cannot  divest  ourselves  of  apprehension.  But  ever 
since  we  were  born  we  have  been  riding  on  a  world  moved  by 
God  at  the  rate  of  more  than  sixty-two  thousand  miles  every 
hour.  And  yet  who  has  been  afraid  ?  who  has  heard  any  start- 
ling sound  ?  This  is  the  more  wonderful  because  the  motion  of 
the  earth  is  not  simple  but  compound.  Yet  in  the  midst  of  all 
this  motion  we  can  hear  the  chirping  of  a  bird,  or  the  dropping 
of  a  pin. 

But  when  God  chooses  he  can  make  our  ears  to  tingle.  By 
the  shaking  of  a  leaf  he  can  startle  us,  or  make  us  rise  up  with 
strange  sounds.  "  The  thunder  of  his  power  who  can  under- 
stand ?"  When  he  shall  destroy  the  world  it  shall  be  with  sounds 
that  shall  awake  the  dead.  "  The  heavens  shall  pass  away 
with  a  great  noise."  When  God  chooses  to  be  heard,  even  the 
24 


10  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD's   NATURE    AND   WAYS. 

mountains  give  ear,  and  obey  his  voice.  At  his  rebuke  he  dries 
up  the  sea,  and  makes  the  rivers  a  wilderness.  Yet,  ordinarily, 
his  footsteps  are  not  heard,  and  his  voice  is  but  the  silent  going 
forth  of  his  almighty  energy. 

In  his  mysterious  providence  God  also  hides  his  works  and 
ways  from  man  by  commonly  removing  results  far  from  human 
view.  In  autumn  the  husbandman  scatters  his  wheat  and  buries 
it  under  the  ground.  It  dies.  Search  and  you  shall  find  it  rot- 
ten. The  rigors  of  a  long  winter  are  approaching.  The  un- 
skilled would  say  this  sowing  of  seed  was  madness.  But  wait 
till  summer,  and  that  husbandman  shall  shout  his  harvest 
home.  What  thus  occurs  in  the  natural  world  is  a  type  of 
spiritual  things.  "They  that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy.  He 
that  goeth  forth  and  weepeth,  bearing  precious  seed,  shall  doubt- 
less come  again  with  rejoicing,  bringing  his  sheaves  with  him." 
Much  as  the  result  is  hoped  for,  it  is  not  perceived  by  any  mor- 
tal. None  but  God  sees  the  end  from  the  beginning.  Whom 
he  would  bless  he  first  puts  to  the  test  of  patient  waiting.  If 
the  righteous  should  see  the  happy  issue  of  all  that  befalls  them, 
as  it  lies  open  before  God,  their  afflictions  would  be  no  trials. 
Had  Abraham  known  that  all  God  would  require  of  him  would 
be  to  bind  Isaac  and  lay  him  on  the  altar,  we  never  should  have 
heard  of  the  illustrious  faith  of  the  father  of  believers.  Jacob 
once  cried  out,  "Joseph  is  not.  and  Simeon  is  not,  and  ye  will 
take  Benjamin  away.  All  these  things  are  against  me."  He 
lived  to  see  that  all  these  things  were  for  him.  But  at  the  time 
of  his  bereavement  he  saw  not  the  blessed  end,  and  so  his  virtue 
was  severely  tested.  If  on  the  day  of  crucifixion,  as  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  the  disciples  had  clearly  perceived  the  results  of 
thrtt  scene  of  terror,  the  Shepherd  might  have  been  smitten,  but 
the  sheep  would  hardly  have  been  scattered.  The  language  of 
God's  providence  well  coincides  with  that  of  his  promise  to  all 
his  people,  "  What  thou  knowest  not  now,  thou  shalt  know 
hereafter." 

And  it  is  as  true  of  the  wicked  as  of  the  righteous  that  they 
cannot  foresee  results,  and  that  "  whatsoever  a  man  soweth, 
that  shall  he  also  reap."  None  are  more  surprised  than  the 
wicked  at  the  conclusion  of  things  under  God's  control.  The 
sinner  intends,  but  God  superintends.  The  creature  appoints, 
but  God  disappoints.  Man  proposes,  but  God  disposes.  Lazarus 
was  filled  with  wonder  to  find  himself  in  Abraham's  bosom,  but 
Dives  was  sore  amazed  to  find  himself  in  hell.  Neither  Pharaoh, 
nor  Belshazzar,  nor  Herod,  nor  Pilate,  nor  Judas,  expected  such 
results  to  themselves  as  their  wickedness  wrought  out.  As  they 
loved  cursing,  so  it  came  unto  them  ;  as  they  delighted  not  in 
blessing,  so  it  was  far  from  them.  "Sin,  when  it  is  finished, 
bringeth  forth  death."  But  the  wicked  promise  themselves  life 
in  the  midst  of  all  iniquity  and  unbelief.  How  sorely  will  their 
souls  be  vexed  when  they  find  themselves  eternally,  hopelessly 
disappointed* 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND    WAYS.  11 

God's  ways  respecting  means  are  very  remarkable.  So  far  as 
we  can  see,  he  often  works  without  means.  Perceiving  no  causes 
in  operation,  we  expect  no  effects.  Seeing  no  disease,  we  ex- 
pect no  death.  Not  looking  ft)**  a  casualty,  it  finds  us  unpro- 
vided with  remedies,  and  we  are  ready  to  be  swallowed  up.  As 
we  begin  to  give  up  all  hope,  God  steps  in  and  relieves  us. 
When  he  chooses,  he  dispenses  with  all  means.  He  did  so  when 
he  made  the  world.  Again,  God  often  works  by  means,  which 
seem  to  us  insignificant.  "  The  death  of  a  man  at  a  critical 
juncture,  his  disgust,  his  retreat,  his  disgrace,  have  brought  innu- 
merable evils  on  a  whole  nation.  A  common  soldier,  a  child,  a 
girl  at  the  door  of  an  inn,  have  changed  the  face  of  fortune,  and 
almost  the  face  of  nature."  Will  God  save  Rome  from  pillage? 
It  shall  be  done  by  the  cackling  of  geese.  Has  a  man's  appointed 
time  upon  earth  expired  ?  The  sting  of  a  bee,  the  scratch  of  a 
pin,  a  crumb  of  bread,  or  a  vernal  zephyr  shall  be  the  means  of 
his  death.  Will  God  prolong  the  life  of  Hezekiah?  A  lump  of 
figs  shall  have  healing  efficacy.  Moreover,  God  often  works 
contrary  to  means.  How  much  malpractice  in  medicine  does 
he  provide  against,  and  thus  restore  the  patient.  How  many 
blunders  in  his  ministers  does  he  overrule  for  good.  Christ 
would  give  sight  to  a  blind  man.  He  makes  clay,  puts  it  on  his 
eyes  as  if  to  make  him  more  blind,  but  he  is  healed.  A  terrible 
fall  dislocates  a  joint.  The  bone  is  not  put  fairly  back  into  its 
place.  Years  of  lameness  and  suffering  succeed.  A  second 
fall,  worse  than  the  first,  jars  the  frame,  jeopards  life,  but  restores 
the  bone  to  its  socket,  and  soon  the  man  walks  and  leaps  and 
praises  God.  By  death,  God  destroyed  him  that  had  the  power 
of  death.  God  often  works  contrary  to  the  natural  tendency 
of  means. 

God  also  employs  such  instruments  as  greatly  confound  us. 
Our  ignorance  and  unbelief  would  choose  those  whom  God  re- 
jects, and  reject  those  whom  he  selects.  Will  he  cure  Naaman's 
leprosy?  A  little  captive  maid  shall  tell  him  of  the  prophet  of 
the  Lord.  Will  he  lead  forth  Israel  from  Egyptian  bondage  ? 
That  little  infant  in  a  basket  among  the  rushes,  by  edict  doomed 
to  death  as  soon  as  born,  shall  come  to  be  the  deliverer.  Will 
he  make  Joseph  premier  of  Egypt  ?  His  brethren  envy  and  sell 
him,  the  Ishmaelites  carry  him  far  from  all  loved  ones,  Potiphar 
imprisons  him,  the  iron  enters  into  his  flesh  ;  yet  in  God's  provi- 
dence every  step  is  onward.  How  often  are  those  whom  we 
never  befriended  made  to  minister  to  our  aid  and  comfort.  Must 
God's  people  be  brought  out  of  Babylon  ?  Cyrus  shall  send  forth 
the  binding  decree.  This  worshipper  of  the  sun  dealt  as  ten- 
derly with  God's  people  as  a  nurse  with  her  child.  It  would  not 
have  been  more  wonderful  to  see  the  wolf  nourishing  and  pro- 
tecting the  lamb  and  the  kid.  Who  would  have  supposed  that 
God  would  choose  a  raven  to  feed  Elijah,  the  boy  Samuel  to 
bear  heavy  tidings  to  Eli,  or  the  youth  Jeremiah  to  pull  down, 
destroy  and  build  up  kingdoms?     God  would  exalt  his  Son  and 


12 

give  him  a  name,  which  is  above  every  name.  He  is  made  flesh, 
born  in  a  manger,  is  subject  to  his  parents,  is  tempted,  mocked, 
spit  upon,  betrayed,  denied,  condemned,  crucified,  dead  and  buried, 
yet  all  ends  in  his  exaltation.  He,  who  had  made  swaddling- 
bands  for  the  sea,  was  laid  in  swaddling  clothes  that  he  might 
be  the  first-born  among  many  brethren.  By  falling  he  arose 
above  all  his  enemies,  above  all  the  creatures  of  God. 

Will  God  regenerate  a  world  ?  It  shall  not  be^done  by  the 
ministry  of  angels,  but  to  the  poor,  condemned,  and  dying,  the 
riches  of  his  mercy  shall  be  borne  in  earthen  vessels.  Will  God 
subdue  the  world  to  knowledge,  to  peace,  and  righteousness  ? 
Humble  men  shall  be  his  ambassadors.  Will  he  make  of  his 
people  a  glorious  church  ?  "  Not  many  wise  men  after  the  flesh, 
not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble  are  called :  but  God  hath 
chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise  ; 
and  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  that  are  mighty  ;  and  base  things  of  the  word  and 
things  which  are  despised,  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things 
which  are  not,  to  bring  to  nought  things  that  are,  that  no  flesh 
should  glory  in  his  presence."  Look  at  that  good  man  surrounded 
by  an  infuriated  throng.  Each  one  gnashes  with  his  teeth,  and 
is  keen  for  his  prey.  At  the  giving  of  the  signal,  stone  follows 
stone.  Gash  after  gash  is  made  on  the  pious  sufferer.  The 
blood  streams  from  his  head  and  body.  Hard  by  him  stands  a 
small  young  man,  drinking  in  with  malignant  joy  the  groans 
that  fall  from  the  martyr's  lips.  Like  a  young  tiger,  hitherto 
fed  on  milk,  but  now  tasting  blood,  he  becomes  furious  against 
all  who  call  on  the  name  of  Jesus.  He  breathes  out  threaten- 
ings  and  slaughter.  He  sheds  innocent  blood  without  remorse 
and  without  cessation.  Who  would  believe  that  this  persecutor 
was  the  chosen  of  God,  and  should  yet,  with  unparalleled  zeal 
and  incredible  success,  preach  Jesus,  call  sinners  to  repentance, 
and  give  joy  and  courage  to  the  trembling  disciples  ?  Yet  such 
was  God's  plan,  and  it  was  all  executed.  God  is  a  sovereign. 
His  counsel  shall  stand.  He  will  do  all  his  pleasure.  He  re- 
jected all  the  seven  elder  sons  of  Jesse,  and  chose  the  little  boy, 
David,  who  had  been  left  with  the  sheep,  and  made  him  king  of 
his  people,  and  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel.  "  Man  looketh  on 
the  outward  appearance,  but  the  Lord  looketh  on  the  heart." 
Most  of  the  great,  useful,  and  honored  men  of  the  next  genera- 
tion are  now  poor  boys,  unnoticed  by  the  proud,  buffeting  diffi- 
culties, and  forming  vigorous  characters  under  the  influence  of 
neglect  and  adversity. 

We  often  tremble  to  see  God  pursuing  a  course  which,  to  our 
short  sight,  seems  quite  contrary  to  the  end  to  be  gained.  This 
is  for  two  purposes.  The  first  is  to  humble  us,  and  thus  prepare 
us  for  the  reception  of  his  great  blessings.  The  other  is  to  prove 
that  "  besides  him  there  is  no  Saviour."  The  thorn  in  Paul's 
flesh  was  sharp  and  painful,  and  brought  from  him  very  bitter 
cries.     Then  came  the  assurance,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND   WAYS.  13 

thee."  When  mountains  and  waters  and  cruel  Egyptians  hedged 
in  the  Israelites  on  every  side,  and  it  was  manifest  that  "  in  vain 
was  the  help  of  man,"  then  came  the  word,  "Stand  still  and  see 
the  salvation  of  God,"  and  the  sea  was  cleft  in  twain,  and  its 
waves  became  walls.  "  In  the  mount,  it  shall  be  seen,"  is  for  a 
saying  in  Israel.  Even  the  gospel  was  not  sent  till  men  had 
racked  their  inventions,  and  were  at  their  wits'  end.  "  After 
that  the  world,  by  wisdom,  knew  not  God,  it  pleased  God,  by 
the  foolishness  of  preaching,  to  save  them  that  believe."  Every- 
thing in  its  order.  When  wit  has  shown  its  weakness,  then 
God's  word  comes  in  and  speaks  wisdom.  When  human  powers 
fall  prostrate,  divine  energy  produces  the  desired  results.  When 
man  gives  up,  God  does  the  work. 

Men  are  so  ignorant  of  their  own  hearts  that  they  are  inca- 
pable of  determining  what  is  best  for  them.  Even  regenerate 
men  are  but  partially  sanctified  and  enlightened.  But  God 
searches  the  heart.  He  understands  our  whole  case.  He  knows 
what  is  most  for  our  good.  He  sees  our  strong  corruptions  and 
sad  deficiencies.  When,  in  mercy  to  the  creature,  he  comes  to 
heal  his  spiritual  maladies,  he  does  not  take  counsel  of  human 
error  and  passion.  It  is  right,  it  is  best  that  he  should  act  ac- 
cording to  the  wisdom  which  is  infallible.  He  employs  the  re- 
quisite remedies,  and  man,  in  his  ignorance,  too  often  says,  "  If 
God  loved  me  he  would  not  give  me  so  bitter  a  cup  to  drink." 
But  this  is  man's  folly.  Shall  not  the  judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right?  Shall  human  weakness  control  divine  power?  Shall 
finite  knowledge  prescribe  to  omniscience?  It  is  the  height  of 
wickedness  for  a  worm  of  the  dust  to  revise  the  decisions,  or 
rejudge  the  justice  of  the  Almighty.  We  should  expect  God  to 
deal  with  us  in  a  way,  to  us  incomprehensible,  if  we  did  but  re- 
member how  low,  sordid,  and  narrow,  are  our  views  and  plans, 
and  how  holy,  glorious,  and  eternal  are  his  purposes  and  designs. 
We  are  quite  prone  to  magnify  both  the  good  and  evil  things  of 
time  to  the  disparagement  of  those  of  eternity.  But  when  God 
crosses,  afflicts,  and  mortifies  us,  he  makes  us  look  at  the  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal.  If  he  racks  this  body  with  pain, 
it  is  that  we  may  think  of  our  house,  not  made  with  hands,  eter- 
nal, and  in  the  heavens.  The  shaking  of  this  clay  tabernacle 
forces  upon  us  the  recollection  that  this  is  not  our  rest,  and  that 
we  ought  to  be  seeking  a  heavenly  country.  If  the  best  man 
on  earth  had  his  own  way  without  divine  guidance,  he  would 
soon  be  in  full  march  towards  destruction.  And  how  kind  is 
God  in  wisely  and  mercifully  deciding  so  many  things  for  us. 
The  man  who  fears  God  and  loves  his  little  daughter  would 
esteem  it  a  greater  affliction  to  be  called  on  to  say  when  his 
child  should  be  sick,  than  he  now  finds  it  to  nurse  her  through 
weeks  of  disease,  close  her  eyes  in  death,  and  then  carry  her  to 
the  grave.  God  very  mercifully  bears  the  heaviest  part  of  all 
our  trials,  by  marking  out  our  course  for  us.     God  is  governor. 


14  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

We  are   servants.     To   us   belong   obedience,   submission,   ac- 
quiescence. 

REMARKS. 

1.  The  Christian  lives  and  walks  by  faith,  not  by  sight.  Even 
apostles  and  prophets  did  but  see  through  a  glass  darkly.  Paul 
himself  says,  "The  life,  which  I  now  live,  I  live  by  the  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God."  As,  "  without  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God,"  so,  without  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  be  pleased  with  God. 
Every  approved  act  of  the  Christian's  life  is,  in  some  sense,  a 
committing  of  his  afFairs  to  the  Almighty.  One  inspired  apostle, 
speaking  of  faith,  calls  it  "precious  faith."  Another  says  that 
the  trial  of  it  is  "  much  more  precious  than  gold."  No  marvel 
that  such  commendations  are  bestowed  on  this  great  virtue.  It 
is  of  rare  excellence.  Gold  perisheth.  But  faith  shall  be  changed 
into  the  beatific  vision.  Gold  is  held  alike  by  God's  friends  and 
enemies.  Faith  is  a  gift  bestowed  on  none  but  the  elect.  Gold 
is  gathered  from  the  earth.  Faith  is  a  gift  descending  from 
heaven.  Gold  stands  us  instead  only  when  it  is  well  with  us. 
Faith  enables  us  to  walk  in  darkness,  having  no  light,  and  yet 
to  trust  in  the  Lord.  "  I  had  fainted  unless  I  had  believed." 
There  is  a  sense  in  which  "  gold  answers  all  things,  so  faith  gives 
the  soul  propriety  in  all  the  rich  consolations  of  the  gospel,  in 
all  the  promises  of  life  and  salvation,  in  all  needful  blessings  ; 
it  draws  virtue  from  Christ  to  strengthen  itself,  and  all  other 
graces."  Behold  the  man  of  faith  pressed  by  temporal  and  spi- 
ritual distresses.  See  him  in  the  furnace  made  seveu  times  hotter 
than  it  is  wont.  They,  who  stand  round  about,  are  scorched  by 
the  intensity  of  the  heat.  Cry  to  him  and  say,  Brother,  how  is 
it  with  thee  now?  If  faith  is  in  lively  exercise,  he  replies, 
"  When  I  am  tried  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold  seven  times  purified. 
I  know  who  it  is  that  has  said,  I  have  chosen  thee  in  the  furnace 
of  affliction."  With  gold  we  can  buy  what  we  need,  if  it  is  in 
the  market ;  but  faith  supplies  all  our  lack  when  universal  want 
prevails.  When  earth  does  not  own  what  we  need,  the  man 
with  his  bags  of  gold  is  on  a  level  with  the  beggar ;  but  at  such 
a  time  the  believer  sings, "  Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom, 
neither  shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines;  the  labor  of  the  olive  shall 
fail,  and  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off 
from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  herd  in  the  stalls;  yet  I  will 
rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation."  Our 
faith  is  often  sorely  tried,  but  God's  word  says,  "  The  trial  of 
your  faith  is  found  unto  praise  and  honor  and  glory  at  the  ap- 
pearance of  Jesus  Christ."  What  we  need  is  not  less  labor  or 
less  suffering,  burdens  less  heavy  or  less  numerous,  trials  less 
sharp  or  less  lasting.  No.  What  we  need  is  stronger  faith. 
The  disciples  never  offered  a  better  prayer  than  this  :  "  Lord, 
increase  our  faith."  Faith,  like  the  club  of  Hercules,  beats 
down  all  before  it.  "  Faith  makes  all  evil  good  to  us,  and  all 
good  better."     "  All  the  precepts  in  the  law  and  in  the  gospel  do 


THE   INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD's   NATURE    AND    WAYS.  15 

hang  upon  this,  Believe."  All  the  comforts  and  supports  of  the 
Christian  life  depend  upon  faith.  Faint  believing  produces  doubt- 
ful walking.  Be  strong  in  faith,  giving  glory  to  God.  Never 
question  his  truth,  nor  doubt  his  faithfulness.  "It  is  better  to 
trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  man.  It  is  better  to 
trust  in  the  Lord  than  to  put  confidence  in  princes."  "  Have 
faith  in  God." 

2.  As  the  object  of  God  in  all  his  dealings  with  his  people  is 
his  own  glory  and  their  eternal  good,  so  they  ought  heartily  to 
concur  in  these  ends,  and  labor  to  promote  them.  God's  glory 
is  more  important  than  the  lives  of  all  his  creatures.  He  has 
made  all  things  for  himself.  Not  an  event  occurs  but  for  his 
glory.  The  death  of  Lazarus,  of  Bethany,  was  to  that  end. 
To  the  same  intent  is  every  pang  of  his  suffering  people.  Nor 
does  he  less  surely  propose  the  welfare  of  his  hidden  ones  in 
their  greatest  afflictions.  "  We  know  that  all  things  work  toge- 
ther for  good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them,  who  are  the  called 
according  to  his  purpose."  Let  us  then  concur  and  co-operate 
with  God  in  seeking  our  good  and  his  glory.  We  ought  to  be 
more  anxious  to  get  good  out  of  an  affliction  than  to  get  rid  of 
it.  The  kindest  wish  that  any  can  indulge  respecting  their 
grieving  brethren,  is,  not  that  they  be  tempted  no  more,  but  that 
in  all  their  trials  they  may  not  sin,  nor  charge  God  foolishly. 
With  these  views  predominant  in  us,  how  many  powerful  tempta- 
tions would  become  powerless.  Sometimes  the  afflicted  look 
upon  their  trials  merely  as  tokens  of  God's  displeasure  against 
them  for  their  sins.  No  doubt  God  has  good  ground  of  contro- 
versy with  us  all.  But  hear  the  voice  from  heaven,  "  As  many 
as  I  love  I  rebuke  and  chasten."  As  God  did  not  give  us  friends, 
or  health,  or  property,  or  reputation,  chiefly  to  please  us,  so  neither 
does  he  take  them  away  chiefly  to  afflict  or  punish  us.  His 
ends  are  high  and  holy,  wise  and  benevolent.  We  should  re- 
member that  what  is  loss  to  us  is  often  gain  to  others.  This  is 
always  true  when  one  of  our  friends  dies  in  the  Lord.  Where- 
fore let  us  gird  up  the  loins  of  our  minds  and  seek,  above  all 
things,  to  glorify  God  in  every  visitation,  whether  grievous  or 
joyous.  Let  us  rejoice  in  all  that  he  does.  "  As  an  eagle  stirreth 
up  her  nest,  fluttereth  over  her  young,  spreadeth  abroad  her 
wings,  taketh  them,  beareth  them  on  her  wings,  so  the  Lord 
alone  did  lead  him,  and  there  was  no  strange  god  with  him." 
The  pious  Mr.  Jay  has  explained  the  allusions  here  made  to  na- 
tural history.  The  eaglets  are  fond  of  the  nest ;  they  love  just 
to  eat  and  sleep,  and  are  reluctant  to  exert  themselves  till  their 
dam  renders  the  nest  so  uncomfortable  that  they  can  occupy  it 
no  longer.  Then  they  go  out  upon  the  rocks  or  the  branches  of 
the  trees,  and  learn  to  walk.  By  example,  she  teaches  them  to 
exercise  their  wings,  fluttering  over  them.  Then  she  bears  them 
on  her  back  to  great  heights,  darts  from  under  them,  and  com- 
pels them  to  use  their  wings.  Then  she  makes  short  circuits  in 
the  air,  and  they  follow  her.     She  enlarges  the  range  of  her 


16  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

flight,  and  still  they  imitate  her  till  they  can  rival  her,  soaring 
high  in  the  heavens.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy  describes  the  com- 
pletion of  this  training:  "I  once  saw  a  very  interesting  sight, 
above  one  of  the  crags  of  Ben  Nevis,  as  I  was  going  on  the  20th 
of  August,  in  the  pursuit  of  black  game.  Two  parent  eagles 
were  teaching  their  offspring — two  young  birds — the  manoeuvres 
of  flight.  They  began  by  rising  from  the  top  of  a  mountain,  in 
the  eye  of  the  sun  ;  it  was  about  mid-day,  and  bright  for  this 
climate.  They  at  first  made  small  circles,  and  the  young  birds 
imitated  them  ;  they  paused  on  their  wings,  waiting  till  they 
had  made  their  first  flight,  and  then  took  a  second  and  larger 
gyration,  always  rising  towards  the  sun,  and  enlarging  their  cir- 
cle of  flight,  so  as  to  make  a  gradual  extended  spiral.  The 
young  ones  still  slowly  followed,  apparently  flying  better  as 
they  mounted  ;  and  they  continued  this  sublime  kind  of  exercise, 
always  rising,  till  they  became  mere  points  in  the  air,  and  the 
young  ones  were  lost,  and  afterwards  their  parents,  to  our  aching 
sight."  So  u  they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord  shall  renew  their 
strength  ;  they  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles;  they  shall 
run  and  not  be  weary ;  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint." 

3.  Let  us  put  a  watch  upon  our  hearts  and  lips,  lest  we  should 
think  or  say  more  about  God's  nature  and  ways  than  befits  our 
ignorance  and  our  selfishness.  Shall  not  God  do  what  he  will 
with  his  own  1  To  us  he  is  not  accountable,  and  it  is  fearful 
wickedness  to  think  or  speak  as  if  he  were.  If  our  reasonings 
concerning  his  nature  or  ways  perplex  us,  it  is  proof  that  we 
have  gone  too  far,  and  uttered  things  too  wonderful  for  us.  Let 
us  not  wade  beyond  our  depth.  "  Fools  rush  in  where  angels 
fear  to  tread."  There  is  much  wickedness  in  indulging  in  bold 
speculations  and  confident  reasonings  on  the  nature  and  govern- 
ment of  God.  On  such  subjects,  preconceived  and  rash  opinions 
are  too  often  allowed  to  set  aside  the  teachings  of  Scripture. 
This  is  always  sinful.  To  every  student  of  divine  things  God 
seems  to  say :  "  Take  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet,  for  the 
place  where  thou  standest  is  holy  ground."  There  is  too  much 
occasion  given  by  men  for  the  challenge,  "  Who  art  thou  that 
repliest  against  God  V  In  the  book  of  Job  we  see  to  what  fear- 
ful lengths  even  good  men  may  go  in  proud  reasonings  on  Jeho- 
vah's ways.  For  indulging  in  this  sin  God  gave  a  terrible  rebuke 
even  to  the  great  patriarch.  Would  that  the  folly  had  ended 
with  the  man  of  Uz.  Let  us  take  heed  to  our  ways,  that  we 
sin  not  with  our  tongues.  Yea,  let  us  keep  our  hearts  with  all 
diligence,  for  out  of  them  are  the  issues  of  life.  "  Pride  is  in- 
creased by  ignorance  ;  those  assume  the  most,  who  know  the 
least."  And  "  to  be  proud  of  learning  is  the  greatest  ignorance." 
"  Pride  goeth  before  destruction,  and  a  haughty  spirit  before  a 
fall."  "With  the  lowly  is  wisdom."  Have  docility.  "Most 
men  take  least  notice  of  what  is  plain,  as  if  that  were  of  no 
use  ;  but  puzzle  their  thoughts,  and  lose  themselves  in  those  vast 
depths  and  abysses,  which  no  human  understanding  can  fathom." 


THE   INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOd's    NATURE    AND    WAYS.  17 

Utter  not  words  without  knowledge.  Think  not  as  the  fools. 
"  Be  not  rash  with  thy  mouth,  and  let  not  thy  heart  be  hasty  to 
utter  anything  before  God  :  for  God  is  in  heaven  and  thou  upon 
earth." 

4.  How  excellent  are  divine  things.  One  says  :  "  Divinity  is 
the  haven  and  Sabbath  of  all  man's  contemplations."  The  sub- 
jects, of  which  it  treats,  surpass  all  others  in  dignity  and  practi- 
cal usefulness.  It  opens  to  us  the  glorious  fountain  of  all  being 
and  of  all  blessedness.  It  tells  us  whence  all  creatures  came. 
It  gives  the  true  theory  of  human  nature,  and  teaches  man  cor- 
rect views  of  himself  and  of  his  neighbors.  It  settles  the  doc- 
trine of  an  endless  life  beyond  the  bounds  of  time.  Its  truths 
have  a  sovereign  efficacy  to  cheer,  guide,  and  cleanse  the  soul. 
For  purity,  for  power,  for  sublimity,  for  refreshment,  nothing 
can  compare  with  them.  They  humble  without  debasing.  They 
elevate  without  puffing  up.  They  beget  modesty  without  cow- 
ardice. They  embolden  without  impudence.  They  inspire 
salutary  fear  and  animating  confidence.  They  give  joy  without 
levity.  They  make  men  to  sorrow  after  a  godly  sort,  and  yet 
greatly  increase  their  happiness. 

To  these  ends  they  have  a  fitness  in  themselves.  Truth  is  in 
its  very  nature  excellent.  Religious  truth  is  as  far  above  all 
other  verity  as  mind  is  above  matter,  as  eternity  is  more  lasting 
than  time,  as  God  is  superior  to  his  works.  The  words  of  God 
are  spirit  and  life.  They  are  wisdom.  Their  entrance  gives 
light.  To  those  who  seek  him  with  all  the  heart,  God  makes 
his  truth  efficacious  by  special  divine  influences.  Even  a  heart 
dead  in  sin  will  revive  under  the  energies  of  truth  in  the  hands 
of  the  great  sanctifier.  "  The  first  creature  of  God,  in  the  work 
of  the  days,  was  the  light  of  the  sense  ;  the  last  was  the  light 
of  reason  ;  and  his  Sabbath  work  ever  since  is  the  illumination 
of  his  Spirit." 

If  the  study  of  divine  things  is  not  a  blessing  to  any,  it  is  be- 
cause they  are  "  sensual,  having  not  the  Spirit."  They  are  blind 
and  cannot  see  afar  off*,  and  yet  are  too  proud  to  seek  the  unc- 
tion that  teacheth  all  things.  They  do  not  in  their  hearts  believe 
what  they  know  to  be  true.  They  restrain  prayer  before  God, 
even  when  they  hear  his  servant  saying,  "  If  any  man  lack  wis- 
dom, let  him  ask  of  God,  who  giveth  liberally,  and  upbraideth 
not."  They  obey  not,  though  Christ  says,  "  If  any  man  will  do 
his  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine  whether  it  be  of  God." 
They  resist  not  their  passions,  though  the  promise  is,  M  The  meek 
will  he  guide  in  judgment."  Nor  do  such  make  proof  of  the 
principle — "  The  hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich."  If  in  this 
land  any  man  shall  not  become  wise  unto  salvation,  the  fault 
will  be  his  own. 

If  these  things  are  so,  every  honest  effort  to  spread  the  know- 
ledge of  God  is  praiseworthy.  A  good  religious  book  is  worth 
all  it  ever  costs.  To  give  such  a  volume  is  often  the  noblest 
charity.  To  read  it  with  eagerness  is  to  dig  after  hid  treasure. 
The  two  great  sources  of  light  on  divine  things  are  God's  works 
25 


18  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY     OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

and  God's  word.  Some  err  by  rejecting  the  volume  of  nature, 
and  some  by  rejecting  the  volume  of  inspiration.  He  who  re- 
jects either  plays  the  fool.  A  pious  mind  loves  to  learn  lessons 
concerning  God  from  any  source.  He  who  asserts  that  God 
teaches  nothing  by  what  he  does,  is  as  blind  and  perverse  as  he 
who  holds  that  God  teaches  nothing  by  what  he  says.  For  "  The 
heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God  ;  and  the  firmament  showeth 
his  handy- work.  Day  unto  day  uttereth  speech,  and  night  unto 
night  showeth  knowledge." 

Yet  the  highest  source  of  divine  knowledge  is  revelation.  In 
it  are  found  all  the  saving  truths  of  religion.  That  speaks  clearly 
of  the  most  vital  things.  How  glorious,  and  yet  how  free,  is  the 
truth :  "  Things  which  are  revealed  belong  unto  us  and  unto  our 
children."  Of  himself,  how  excellent  the  revelation  God  has 
made:  "The  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and  gracious,  long- 
suffering,  and  abundant  in  goodness  and  truth,  keeping  mercy 
for  thousands,  forgiving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin,  and  that 
will  by  no  means  clear  the  guilty."  These  few  words  give  us 
more  true  knowledge  of  God's  moral  character  than  all  the  wise 
men  of  old  acquired  from  the  whole  volume  of  nature.  Revela- 
tion is  no  less  clear  concerning  man's  sin  and  guilt,  misery 
and  helplessness.  It  leaves  no  doubt  respecting  either  of  these. 
By  scores  of  types,  prophecies  and  promises,  it  points  to  the 
Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  It  assures 
the  conscience  of  peace  by  atoning  blood.  It  explains  the  mys- 
tery of  sanctification.  It  pours  floods  of  light  on  all  that  needs 
to  be  known  in  order  that  we  may  do  our  duty  or  maintain  solid 
peace  of  mind.  On  the  whole  subject  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment it  is  luminous.  It  goes  still  further.  "Some  things,  which 
could  not  otherwise  be  read  in  the  book  of  nature,  are  legible 
enough  when  the  lamp  of  revelation  is  held  up  to  it."  Thus  it 
makes  all  plain  concerning  the  death  both  of  good  and  bad  men. 
In  the  phrase,  death  by  sin,  we  have  the  cause  of  all  death.  In 
the  words,  /  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  we  have  opened  to 
all  the  pious,  a  door  of  hope  which  shall  never  be  shut.  God's 
word  is  complete  as  to  our  duty  and  destiny,  our  privileges  and 
prospects.  "  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul : 
the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the  simple.  The 
statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing  the  heart:  the  com- 
mandment of  the  Lord  is  pure,  enlightening  the  eyes.  The  fear 
of  the  Lord  is  clean,  enduring  forever:  the  judgments  of  the 
Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.  More  to  be  desired  are 
they  than  gold,  yea,  than  much  fine  gold :  sweeter  also  than 
honey  and  the  honey-comb." 

5.  We  ought  not  to  be  offended  with  the  doctrine  of  the  di- 
vinity of  Christ,  nor  with  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  nor  with 
any  other  truth  of  the  gospel,  on  account  of  its  mysteriousness. 
It  is  not  more  incomprehensible  that  Christ  should  have  two  dis- 
tinct natures  united  in  one  person  for  ever,  than  that  God  should 
have  life  in  himself.  He,  who  can  explain  the  latter,  will  never 
be  confounded  by  the  former.  How  existence  can  be  without 
production  is  a  knot  which  no  creature  can  untie.     To  deny  the 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD7S    NATURE    AND    WAYS.  19 

self-existence  of  God  is  atheism.  To  doubt  it  is  to  tremble  over 
the  darkest  gulf  that  ever  yawned.  Yet  who  can  understand 
its  nature  ?  But  the  fact  is  beyond  a  question.  So  the  divinity 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  clearly  revealed  in  every  possible 
form  of  speech.  He  is  repeatedly  called  God  and  Jehovah.  He 
is  said  to  do  divine  works,  to  receive,  by  God's  command,  divine 
honors,  and  to  exercise  divine  prerogatives.  He  created  all 
things.  He  upholds  all  things.  He  forgives  sins.  He  made 
the  worlds.  He  is  worshipped  by  all  holy  angels  and  redeemed 
men.  He  shall  judge  the  world.  These  things  are  so  clearly 
revealed  of  him  that  it  is  perverseness  to  deny  them.  Let  no 
man  be  offended  in  Christ  because  of  his  glory,  or  the  mystery 
that  surrounds  him.  Were  there  nothing  incomprehensible 
about  him,  he  would  not  be  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all 
that  come  unto  God  by  him.  If  God  teaches  this  doctrine,  it  is 
true,  whether  you  comprehend  it  or  not.  We  know  not  how  the 
grass  grows.  It  is  all  mystery  to  us  how  soil,  and  air,  and  wa- 
ter, are  converted  into  vegetable  substances.  It  is  all  mystery 
to  us  how  bread,  and  honey,  and  milk,  and  meat,  are  converted 
into  blood,  and  made  to  nourish  our  frames.  It  is  indeed  a  mys- 
tery to  us  how  Christ  may  be  both  God  and  man.  But,  unless 
we  honor  the  Son  as  we  honor  the  Father,  we  shall  be  found  in 
open  rebellion  against  God.  Jesus  himself  said  :  H  If  ye  believe 
not  that  I  am  he,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins." 

Nor  is  the  glorious  mystery  of  a  Trinity  of  persons  in  the 
Godhead  offensive  to  pious  minds.  It  is  for  a  rejoicing  that  He, 
who  made  us,  He,  who  redeemed  us,  and  He,  who  sanctifies  us, 
is  the  one  eternal,  unchangeable,  indivisible  Jehovah,  subsisting 
in  three  persons.  The  favorite  objection  urged  against  this  doc- 
trine, from  the  days  of  Celsus  and  Lucian,  down  to  this  hour  is, 
its  mysteriousness.  Lucian's  "  One  three,  three  one  "  is  repeated 
in  our  day  by  persons  who  would  be  very  unwilling  to  enrol 
their  names  with  his,  though  they  take  up  the  ribaldry,  and  sit 
in  the  seat  of  that  ancient  scorner.  That  everything  pertaining 
to  God  is,  in  some  points,  inscrutable,  is  not  denied.  Were  it 
otherwise,  who  could  adore  him  ?  When  I  perfectly  understand 
all  about  a  being,  I  know  that  he  is  either  my  inferior,  or  my 
equal,  and  so  I  cannot  pay  him  religious  worship.  The  pious 
Hervey  well  says :  "  I  am  no  more  surprised  that  some  revealed 
truths  should  amaze  my  understanding,  than  that  the  blazing 
sun  should  dazzle  my  eyes."  Robert  Hall,  speaking  of  inscru- 
table things  in  religion,  says :  "  We  rejoice  that  they  are  myste- 
rious, so  far  from  being  ashamed  of  them  on  that  account ;  since 
the  principal  reason  why  they  are,  and  must  ever  continue  such, 
is  derived  from  their  elevation,  from  their  unsearchable  riches 
and  undefinable  grandeur."  Dr.  Leonard  Woods,  of  Andover, 
says  :  "  The  end  of  our  being  does  not  require  that  we  should 
completely  comprehend  either  the  Creator,  or  the  creation.  Were 
we  called  to  exercise  dominion  over  the  universe,  it  would  in- 
deed be  necessary  that  we  should  be  omniscient.  But  for  those, 
whose  business  it  is  to  obey  and  submit,  omniscience  is  not  ne- 
cessary.    *      *      *     On  inquiry,  it  will  appear  that  all  the  most 


20  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

momentous  and  useful  truths  relate  to  objects  which  are  pre- 
eminently  incomprehensible."     Bishop   Waterland   says:    "No 
just  objection  can   be  made  against  the  importance  of  any  doc- 
trine, from  its  mysterious  nature.     The  most  mysterious  of  all 
are,  in  reality,  the  most  important ;  not  because  they  are  myste- 
rious, but  because  they   relate  to  things  divine,  which  must,  of 
course,  be  mysterious  to  weak  mortals,  and,  perhaps,  to  all  crea- 
tures whatever.     But  even  mysterious  doctrines   have   a  bright 
side,  as  well  as  a  dark  one  ;  and  they  are  clear  to  look  upon, 
though  too  deep  to  be  seen  through."     Richard  Baxter  says : 
*  The  mystery  of  the  incarnation  alone  may  find  you  work  to 
search  and  admire  many  ages."     John  Newton  says:  "If  I  did 
not  find  many  things  in  the  Bible  proposed  rather  to  my  faith 
than  to  my  reason,  I  could  not  receive  it  as  a  revelation  from 
God,  because  it  would  want  the  grand  characteristic  of  his  ma- 
jesty."    Dr.  Scott  says:  "The  mystery  of  godliness  continued  a 
great  mystery  after  the  fullest  revelation  of  it.     The  revelation 
and  belief  of  it  have  always  been,  and  are,  the  beginning  and 
spring  of  all  pious  dispositions  and  affections  in  the  hearts  of 
fallen  men,  and  of  all  the  spiritual  worship  of  God  in  the  world." 
Bishop  Sherlock,  no  less  pertinently  observes,  that  "  So  far  is  it 
from  being  an  objection  against  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  that  it  con- 
tains many  wonderful  mysteries  of  the  hidden  wisdom  of  God, 
that,  as  our  case  stands,  without  a  mystery,  it  is  impossible  for 
us  to  be  saved  :  for,  since  reason  and  nature  cannot  find  the 
means  of  rescuing  sinners  from    punishment,  and  of  making 
atonement  to  the  justice  of  God  ;  since  they  cannot  prescribe  a 
proper  satisfaction  for  sin.  in  which  the  honor  of  God  and  the 
salvation  of  men  shall  be  at  once  consulted ;  since  they  cannot 
remedy  the  corruption  that  has  spread  through  the  race  of  man- 
kind, or  infuse  new  principles  of  virtue  and  holiness  into  the 
souls  already  subdued  to  the  lust  and  power  of  sin  ;  since,  if 
they  could  procure  our  pardon  for  what  is  past,  they  cannot  se- 
cure us  for  the  future  from  the  same  temptations,  which  by  fatal 
experience  we  know  we  cannot  withstand :  since,  I  say,  these 
things  cannot  be  done  by  the  means  of  reason  and  nature,  they 
must  be  done  by  such  means  as  reason  and  nature  know  nothing 
of;  that  is,  in  other  words,  they  must  be  done  by  mysterious 
means,  of  the  propriety  of  which  we  can  have  no  adequate  no- 
tion or  conception. 

"  If  you  stand  in  need  of  no  new  favor,  if  you  aim  not  so  high 
as  eternal  life,  religion  without  mysteries  may  well  serve  your 
turn.  The  principles  of  natural  religion  tend  to  procure  the 
peace  and  tranquillity  of  this  life  ;  and  the  not  distinguishing  be- 
tween religion  as  a  rule  of  life  for  our  present  use  and  well- 
being  here,  and  as  the  means  of  obtaining  pardon  for  sin  and 
eternal  life  hereafter,  may  have  in  some  measure  occasioned  the 
great  complaint  against  the  mysteries  of  the  gospel :  for  mys- 
teries are  not  indeed  the  necessary  parts  of  religion,  considered 
only  as  a  rule  of  action ;  but  most  necessary  they  are  to  it,  when 
considered  as  a  means  of  obtaining  pardon  and  eternal  glory. 


THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS.  21 

And  this  farther  shows,  how  unreasonably  men  object  against 
the  mysterious  wisdom  of  the  gospel,  since  all  that  the  gospel 
prescribes  to  us  as  our  duty  is  plain  and  evident ;  all  that  is 
mysterious  is  on  God's  part,  and  relates  entirely  to  the  surprising 
acts  of  divine  wisdom  and  mercy  in  the  redemption  of  the  world. 
Consider  the  gospel  then  as  a  rule  of  action,  no  religion  was 
ever  so  plain,  so  calculated  upon  the  principles  of  reason  and 
nature ;  so  that  natural  religion  itself  had  never  more  natural 
religion  in  it.  If  we  consider  the  end  proposed  to  us,  and  the 
means  used  to  entitle  us  to  the  benefit  of  it,  it  grows  mysterious, 
and  soars  above  the  reach  of  human  reason ;  for  God  has  done 
more  for  us  than  reason  could  teach  us  to  expect,  or  can  now 
teach  us  to  comprehend.  Let  us  then  do  our  part,  which  we 
plainly  understand,  and  let  us  trust  in  God  that  he  will  do  his  ; 
though  it  exceeds  the  strength  of  human  wisdom  to  comprehend 
the  length  and  depth  and  breadth  of  that  wisdom  and  mercy, 
which  God  has  manifested  to  the  world  through  his  Son  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord."  Nor  does  God's  word  teach  any  different  doc- 
trine. In  fact,  it  fully  supports  these  views.  Paul  said:  "With- 
out controversy,  great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness:  God  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the  spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached 
unto  the  Gentiles,  believed  on  in  the  world,  received  up  into 
glory."  Let  us  love  all  that  God  has  spoken.  If  it  fills  us 
with  reverence  and  godly  fear,  if  it  humbles  us  in  the  dust,  if  it 
awakens  pious  wonder,  if  it  stirs  us  up  to  diligence  in  looking 
into  these  things,  it  must  be  of  excellent  use.  But  to  carp  at 
God's  word,  or  any  portion  thereof,  is  both  criminal  and  danger- 
ous. Let  every  man  beware,  lest  Christ  and  his  salvation,  be  to 
him  for  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  for  a  rock  of  offence  ;  for  a  gin 
and  for  a  snare  ;  for  many  among  men  shall  stumble  and  fall, 
and  be  broken,  and  be  snared,  and  be  taken. 

6.  What  madness  it  is  for  any  creature  to  be  found  fighting 
against  God.  He  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness.  He 
hides  himself,  and  all  nature  stands  aghast.  He  passes  by,  and 
a  great  and  strong  wind  rends  the  mountains,  and  breaks  in 
pieces  the  rocks.  He  utters  his  voice,  and  the  earth  melts.  He 
wills  it,  and  a  world  arises.  He  frowns,  and  the  pillars  of  hea- 
ven tremble.  "  Behold,  the  nations  are  as  a  drop  of  a  bucket, 
and  are  counted  as  the  small  dust  of  the  balance ;  behold,  he 
taketh  up  the  isles  as  a  very  little  thing.  *  *  All  nations  are 
before  him  as  nothing."  "He  bringeth  princes  to  nothing." 
"  He  maketh  the  judges  of  the  earth  as  vanity."  Before 
him,  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  are  as  grasshoppers.  Who 
can  resist  such  a  God  ?  Some  have  fought  against  him,  but 
who  ever  conquered  him  or  escaped  a  certain  overthrow?  Was 
there  ever  a  company  of  more  consummate  fools  than  Pha- 
raoh and  his  great  men,  although  they  thought  to  "  deal  wisely." 
Behold  the  horse  and  his  rider,  the  warrior  and  the  chariot,  sunk 
like  lead  in  the  mighty  waters.     "  The  Lord  is  a  man  of  war. 

*  *  *  He  hath  triumphed  gloriously.  *  *  *  Who  is 
like  unto  thee,  O  Lord,  among  the  gods  ?  Who  is  like  thee,  glo- 
rious in  holiness,  fearful  in  praises,  doing  wonders  ?"     Let  every 


22  THE   INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF    GOD'S    NATURE    AND   WAYS. 

man  know  that  the  Lord,  he  is  God,  and  that  to  put  one's  self  in 
array  against  him  is  to  advertise  the  whole  universe  that  he  is  a 
fool,  bent  on  his  own  eternal  undoing.  A  feather  can  never  re- 
sist the  fires  of  a  furnace,  the  elements  cannot  withstand  the  in- 
tense heat  of  the  last  day  ;  neither  can  a  worm  of  the  dust  stand 
out  against  God.  Sin  is  as  foolish  as  it  is  criminal.  If,  in  tem- 
poral affairs,  any  man  violated  the  laws  of  his  existence,  as  in 
spiritual  affairs  every  wicked  man  does,  any  court  would  pro- 
nounce him  a  madman,  and  subject  him  to  the  restraints  of  a 
lunatic  asylum.  Wisdom  says :  "  Whoso  findeth  me  findeth  life, 
and  shall  obtain  favor  of  the  Lord.  But  he  that  sinneth  against 
me  wrongeth  his  own  soul :  all  they  that  hate  me  love  death." 
To  think  of  God's  wrath  is  fearful.  To  taste  it  is  worse  than  a 
potion  of  wormwood  and  gall.  To  endure  it  is  intolerable.  A 
drop  of  it  fell  into  the  conscience  of  Belshazzar,  and  his  knees 
smote  together  ;  of  Herod,  and  he  gave  up  the  ghost ;  of  Judas, 
and  he  turned  suicide.  A  few  drops  of  it  have  sent  the  voice  of 
wailing  along  every  valley  and  over  every  mountain  in  a  great 
nation.  A  sprinkle  of  it  fell  on  sinning  angels,  and,  in  a  moment, 
they  shrivelled  into  devils.  A  vial  of  it  broken  on  our  globe  will 
yet  send  it  blazing  through  the  universe.  The  fierceness  of  that 
wrath  will  cow  the  spirit  of  devils,  and  make  sinners  of  our  race 
wish  they  had  never  been  born.  "  Who  knoweth  the  power  of 
thine  anger?     Even  according  to  thy  fear,  so  is  thy  wrath." 

7.  With  so  great  a  God,  great  sinners  may  hope  to  find  great 
mercy.  He  punishes,  but  He  also  pardons,  like  a  God.  He  shows 
compassion  to  the  chief  of  sinners.  His  loving-kindness  reaches 
to  the  heavens.  If  any  of  us  shall  not  be  saved,  it  will  not  be 
because  God  is  not  merciful ;  but  because  we  are  proud,  rebel- 
lious, and  self-righteous.  Sometimes  we  think  our  sins  too  great 
to  be  pardoned  by  the  Lord.  But  this  is  because  of  our  wicked 
unbelief.  Hear  his  own  words  of  love  ;  "  Seek  ye  the  Lord 
while  he  may  be  found,  call  ye  upon  him  while  he  is  near ;  let 
the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  unrighteous  man  his  thoughts  ; 
and  let  him  return  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  will  have  mercy  upon 
him,  and  to  our  God,  for  he  will  abundantly  pardon."  Such  offers 
ought  to  silence  all  our  cavils,  and  put  to  shame  all  our  unbelief. 
If  we  knew  more  of  God,  we  should  be  less  apt  to  distrust  him. 
He,  who  has  spent  all  his  days  among  the  mountains  which  lift 
their  brows  above  the  clouds,  and  has  never  seen  any  body  of 
water  greater  than  the  mountain  torrent,  may  naturally  doubt 
whether  there  is  water  enough  on  earth  to  cover  the  peaks  of  his 
native  land.  But  let  him  once  cross  the  Atlantic,  let  him  put 
down  his  lead  thousands  of  fathoms,  let  him  find  that  it  is  three 
thousand  miles  wide  and  yet  greater  in  length,  and  he  will  see 
how  all  his  native  mountains  could  be  buried  in  the  sea.  So  our 
sins  are  great,  truly  as  great  as  we  ever  thought  them  to  be. 
But  God's  mercy  is  greater  than  we  have  ever  imagined.  Let 
us  explore  it  and  meditate  upon  it,  till  we  see  how  He  can  par- 
don iniquity,  pass  by  transgression,  delight  in  mercy,  have  com- 
passion on  us,  and  cast  all  our  sins  into  the  depths  of  the  sea. 

8.  The  true  glory  of  churches  is  the  presence  and  blessing  of 


THE    lJMU3il'K£HEJNSl.UlJLiTX     U*     UUU  S    JNATUKfc    AJXU      WAX».  40 

Jehovah.  The  great  difference  between  the  two  houses  that 
Solomon  built  was,  that  one  was  his  own  domicil,  while  the  other 
was  an  habitation  for  the  Lord.  The  great  difference  between 
a  saint  and  a  sinner  is,  that  one  is  the  temple  of  Belial,  and  the 
other  the  temple  of  the  Lord.  In  monarchical  governments,  it  is 
esteemed  a  great  honor  to  live  or  to  worship  in  the  same  house 
with  the  king.  But  wherever  churches  are  animated  with  real 
love  to  God,  the  King  of  kings  blesses  the  place  of  their  meeting 
with  his  presence.  This  is  honor  indeed.  What  a  glorious 
promise  is  that,  "  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them."  The  fulfilment  is 
as  certain  as  the  blessing  promised  is  inestimable.  How  foolish 
are  we  when  we  put  our  confidence  in  means  and  men,  in  sing- 
ers and  preachers,  to  make  the  sanctuary  a  delight.  They  may 
provide  for  the  proprieties  of  things.  Even  a  corpse  may  be  de- 
cently arrayed.  But  if  the  place  of  meeting  is  to  be  made  to  our 
souls  the  house  of  God,  and  the  gate  of  heaven,  if  we,  who  are 
naturally  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  are  to  be  made  alive  unto 
God,  it  must  be  by  the  gracious  presence  of  Him  whose  we  are, 
and  whom  we  serve.  Let  God's  people  never  weary  of  looking 
to  Him,  who  is  the  glory  of  his  people  Israel.  Let  them 
never  vainly  imagine  that  they  are  anything,  or  can  do  anything 
as  of  themselves.  Without  him  they  can  do  nothing.  That  was 
a  wise  prayer  of  Moses,  "  If  thy  presence  go  not  with  me,  carry 
us  not  up  hence."  If  God  go  before  us,  our  enemies  shall  be  scat- 
tered. If  he  be  our  rereward,  our  enemies  shall  not  overtake  us. 
If  he  be  our  portion,  we  shall  not  want.  If  he  be  our  glory,  we 
shall  be  eternally  illustrious. 

9.  What  a  capital  error  is  that  which  teaches  that  God  can  be 
fitly  represented  or  worshipped  by  images.  To  bow  down  to  the 
sun,  moon,  and  stars,  and  worship  all  the  host  of  heaven,  or  to 
"  change  the  glory  of  the  incorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  men,  and  to  birds,  and  four-footed  beasts,  and 
creeping  things,"  ought  to  be  by  all  people  held  and  declared 
idolatry.  In  his  being,  perfections,  works,  and  ways,  God  is  in- 
comparable. "Among  the  gods,  there  is  none  like  thee,  O  Lord  ; 
neither  are  there  any  works  like  unto  thy  works."  "  Who  in  the 
heavens  can  be  compared  unto  the  Lord  ;  who  among  the  sons 
of  the  mighty  can  be  likened  unto  the  Lord  ?"  "To  whom  will 
ye  liken  God  ?  or  what  likeness  will  ye  compare  unto  him  ?" 
The  greatness  of  the  sin  of  worshipping  images,  or  of  worshipping 
God  by  images,  arises  from  these  facts :  It  is  positively  forbid- 
den in  many  portions  of  Scripture  ;  it  is  contrary  to  God's  spirit- 
uality ;  it  degrades  all  our  conceptions  of  Jehovah  to  a  depth  of 
debasement  intolerable  to  God.  "  We  ought  not  to  think  that 
the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  art  and 
man's  device."  The  spirit  of  the  first  and  the  letter  of  the  second 
commandment  forbid  such  worship.  "  Thou  shalt  have  no  other 
gods  before  me.  Thou  shalt  not  make  unto  thee  any  graven 
image,  or  any  likeness  of  any  thing  that  is  in  heaven  above,  or 
that  is  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  that  is  in  the  water  under  the 
earth  ;  thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them  : 
for   I    the    Lord  Lthy  God  am  a  jealous  God,  visiting  the  ini- 


24  THE    INCOMPREHENSIBILITY    OF   GOD'S   NATURE    AND    WAYS. 

quity  of  the  fathers  upon  the  children  unto  the  third  and  fourth 
generation  of  them  that  hate  me  ;  and  showing  mercy  unto  thou- 
sands of  them  that  love  me,  and  keep  my  commandments."  In 
his  address  to  Israel  given  us  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  Deuteron- 
omy, Moses  greatly  insists  upon  the  exclusion  of  images  from  re- 
ligious worship.  Besides,  "  God  is  a  Spirit,  and  they  that  wor- 
ship him,  must  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  God  is  not 
in  any  way  personally  connected  with  matter.  He  is  an  uncre- 
ated, immaterial  substance.  He  is  an  active,  intelligent,  infinite 
spirit.  The  Belgic  confession  well  says :  "  We  believe  in 
heart,  and  confess  with  the  mouth,  that  there  is  one  only  and 
simple  spiritual  essence,  which  we  call  God,  eternal,  incompre- 
hensible, invisible,  immutable,  infinite,  who  is  wholly  wise,  and 
a  most  plentiful  well-spring  of  all  good  things."  We  cannot  too 
carefully  guard  God's  worship  against  all  corruptions,  all  admix- 
tures of  human  inventions.  Image  worship  is  abominable  idola- 
try. The  Most  High  is  not  like  the  gods  of  the  heathen.  He 
dwelleth  not  in  temples  made  with  hands.  Because  he  fills  hea- 
ven and  earth  he  cannot  be  placed  in  a  niche  or  on  the  altar  of  any 
house.  Nor  can  any  true  image  of  him  be  made  or  conceived. 
The  most  exquisite  piece  of  art  is  no  more  like  God,  and  is  no 
more  suited  to  give  us  just  ideas  of  him,  than  the  most  unsightly 
daub,  or  the  rudest  block  of  wTood  or  stone. 

10.  How  amiable  is  the  whole  character  of  God.  Love  to 
him  is  as  reasonable  as  it  is  obligatory.  When  a  scoffing  infidel 
thought  to  perplex  a  pious  little  girl,  by  asking,  "  How  big  is 
your  God  V  she  replied,  "  He  is  so  great  that  the  heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain  him,  yet  he  is  so  kind  as  to  dwell 
in  this  little  heart  of  mine."  He  dwells  with  all  his  peo- 
ple. He  walks  in  them.  "Thus  saith  the  high  and  lofty  One 
that  inhabiteth  eternity,  whose  name  is  Holy :  I  dwell  in  the 
high  and  holy  place,  with  him  also  that  is  of  a  contrite  and  hum- 
ble spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of  the  humble,  and  to  revive  the 
heart  of  the  contrite  ones."  What  matchless  love  is  here  !  He 
who  is  over  all  God  blessed  forever,  condescends  to  take  up  his 
abode  in  our  hearts.  "  The  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men."  He 
that  is  higher  than  the  highest,  does  not  despise  our  low  estate. 
How  hateful  is  the  arrogant  littleness  of  man,  compared  with 
the  condescending  greatness  of  God.  Our  God  is  in  the  heavens, 
and  yet  he  is  the  great  comforter  of  man.  If  this  is  so,  how  we 
should  love  and  fear,  serve  and  obey,  praise  and  adore  him. 
"  We  should  give  him  the  same  place  in  our  hearts  that  he  holds 
in  the  universe."  We  shall  never  be  able  to  pay  the  debt  we 
owe  him.  Let  us  give  him  all.  Even  that  is  but  little  ;  yet  he 
will  receive  it. 

Maker !  Preserver !  my  Redeemer !  God  ! 

Whom  have  I  in  the  heavens  but  Thee  alone  ? 

On  earth,  but  thee,  whom  should  I  praise,  whom  love  ? 

For  thou  hast  brought  me  hitherto,  upheld 

By  thy  Omnipotence ;  and  from  thy  grace 

Unbought,  unmerited,  though  not  unsought — 

The  wells  of  thy  salvation,  hast  refreshed 

My  spirit,  watering  it  at  morn  and  eve. 

Glory  to  God  in  the  highest. 


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